The Future of Waste
Show #113 | Guests: Bea Johnson is the author of Zero Waste Home, and the blog of the same name. She endorses living simply and with minimal waste through the 5R\u2019s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot. Grand Prize winner of The Green Awards, she speaks at universities, corporate events and conferences internationally, and opens her home to educational tours and the media. The New York Times dubbed Johnson \u201cThe Priestess of Waste-Free Living.\u201d She is a French native who lives in Mill Valley, CA. Jo Zientek is Deputy Director of the Environmental Services Department at the City of San Jose. She\u2019s provided strategic leadership for San Jose environmental utility services and programs and played a key role in developing the City\u2019s Green Vision, adopted by City Council in October 2007 and comprised of ten aggressive goals related to jobs, energy, water, waste, trees, and transportation. Jo serves on the steering committee to implement these goals by 2022. Under her tenure, San Jose won the 2013 and 2009 Governor\u2019s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award. | Show Summary: Recycling is such a norm in some cities it\u2019s easy to think that\u2019s true all over the US. But some cities still don\u2019t have curbside pickup. And for those that do, questions and conflict about. Residents might be surprised to find out how many \u201crecyclables\u201d end up in landfills. Emphatic critics of popular \u201call in one bin\u201d collection see it as more harmful than helpful. Then there\u2019s the untapped potential of trash-as-resource. Can the tons of refuse produced worldwide realistically be a source of energy or reclaimed resources? Do landfills harbor buried treasure?